Empowering patient voices through voter registration
While roughly 83% of adults in the United States will visit a health care provider in the next year, an estimated
News
3-24-11 Affordable Care Act Update
March 25, 2011
One Year Later: Provisions of the Law Already Helping Cancer Patients
Timed to coincide with yesterday’s one-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, ACS CAN launched the Affordable Care Act Quiz, a new, interactive tool that can be found on fightcancer.org. This short, educational quiz tests your knowledge of how provisions of the law are helping cancer patients and their loved ones. At the end of the quiz, participants are invited to learn more by reading the Society’s consumer guide to the law, “The Affordable Care Act: How It Helps People with Cancer and Their Families.” I invite you to take the quiz and share it with your family and friends!
I also wanted to draw your attention to the Leadership Message Dr. Seffrin sent yesterday with a video that features the inspiring stories of two patients, Heather Kornick of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, and Hillary St. Pierre of Charlestown, New Hampshire. Both patients are already feeling benefits from the Affordable Care Act and experiencing improved quality of life due to the ban on insurance restrictions that were threatening their treatments and their lives.
Also, read the ACS CAN press release on the anniversary and check out Kaiser Health News’ roundup of news stories related to the anniversary.
Polls Show Confusion, Split in Opinions
One year after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, many Americans are still confused by its contents according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll. Less than half, 47 percent, believe they have enough information to know how the law will affect them. Those likely to benefit the most from the law are even more confused. Six in 10 people living without insurance and six in 10 individuals from low-income households say they don’t understand the impact the Affordable Care Act would have on their lives.
For more information about the Kaiser Poll, read this CQ story.
A recent Gallup poll related to the law showed Americans’ opinions remain divided. When asked about favorability of the passage of the law, 46 percent of Americans believe it was a good thing and 44 percent said it was a bad thing. Opinions of the law’s impact are also split. Thirty-nine percent of Americans say the law will improve medical care in the U.S., and 44 percent believe it will make it worse.
The New York Times Prescriptions blog took a look at both polls.
New Tool to Evaluate State Insurance Exchange Proposals
Attached below please find ACS CAN’s newest tool for evaluating legislative proposals for the state insurance exchanges. The list of “threshold questions” and rationales can be used and shared with coalition partners, legislators and others working on state health insurance exchanges.
Over the past two months about half of all states have been reviewing some type of exchange legislation. The main concerns ACS CAN has identified to date include governance board membership, coordination with state Medicaid programs, protection against an uneven playing field (also known as adverse selection), consistent use of nonpolitical funding mechanisms to operate the exchange, and ensuring that all exchange products and information for consumers and patients is user-friendly. ACS CAN and Society Divisions will continue to work for these and other priorities as several state legislative sessions wind down and compromise bills begin making their way out of conference committees.
Quality Improvement Strategy Unveiled
On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care. The National Health Care Strategy was required as part of the Affordable Care Act to coordinate state, local, and federal efforts directed at improving health care quality nationwide and is intended to serve as a guide for federal agencies to develop programs, regulations, and initiatives related to quality improvement.. The strategy articulates three broad aims - improving the quality of care by making care more patient-centered, making communities healthier by addressing the behavioral and social determinants of health, and making care more affordable by reducing health care costs. Read the HHS press release.
HHS developed the strategy with input from a variety of stakeholder organizations, including ACS CAN and other patient advocacy organizations In its recommendations to HHS on the strategy last October, ACS CAN expressed the importance of advancing quality improvement strategies that promote more integrated and coordinated care for individuals with serious and chronic illnesses -- a key theme expressed in the HHS framework. The document is a good foundation for developing a more coherent approach to quality throughout the nation's health system.
As always, thank you for all you do every day to support laws and policies that help cancer patients and their families
Christopher W. Hansen
President
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)